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The Kids Wanted Chore Pay to Be More Like a Real Job

The kids need to do their chores. They said they wanted it to be like a real job with better pay. I accommodated them with a higher pay for each type of chore, and I got each of them a fake pay stub for each week of chores when I paid them. They were grumbling a bit when they saw a 22 percent withholding to mimic what their taxes would be. I told them that it would get deposited to their individual savings accounts. They used to get the chore money at the end of each day. I told them how that regular jobs have set pay periods, and how they should be happy that they are on a weekly pay schedule instead of a biweekly one.

They did not find the humor in the fake pay stub each of them were getting each week for completion of chores. However, each one listed all the chores each one did and what they received in pay for it. They sat me down with their mom to talk about the new arrangement. Mom told them that whatever Dad said about the new chore payment arrangement was going to be it. She was having as much fun as me with teaching them how things really are in the real world. The kids said they liked the increased pay, but now they were losing 22 percent each pay period. I asked them how they were losing it when it was being saved for them. If anything, it was earning them money in interest. They did not have a comeback for that one, but it would make them better prepared for the next meeting.

We stuck with the fake pay stub weekly pay for chores arrangement. The kids were actually getting kind of impressed with how much their savings accounts were growing, and they did like the higher pay per chore. They just learned to adopt a weekly budget instead of blowing each day’s chore money when they used to get it at the end of each day. It can be tough to learn how things work, but this was a mild way of teaching how getting paid works when you work for someone else.